Transcript
DARRELL WEST: I think, as we start to implement health information technology, there's going to be all sorts of interesting positive and perhaps some not so positive responses to that. And whether we actually are able to achieve that $120 billion a year in cost savings I think is still an open question. But I think the key here is really not technology as a solution in and of itself, but using technology to reform organizations, change cultures, and tied reimbursement rates so that we award could behavior.
Right now, there unfortunately are some bad incentives throughout the medical system. We need to build in new incentives to get the system to start to move more in the direction that we would like.
So in the long run, I am a technology optimist. I do think technology is absolutely vital to cost savings and quality improvements. I think eventually we will get to the point where the visionaries are correct. But they're going to be many obstacles along the way, and that's one of the reasons we wanted to put this panel together, because we have three outstanding individuals who are very knowledgeable about health information technology.
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